Identification Documents
Identification documents (hereafter “ID documents”) play a critical role in today's society. One example of an ID document is an identification card (“ID card”). ID documents are used on a daily basis—to prove identity, to verify age, to access a secure area, to evidence driving privileges, to cash a check, and so on. Airplane passengers are required to show an ID document during check in, security screening and prior to boarding their flight. In addition, because we live in an ever-evolving cashless society, ID documents are used to make payments, access an automated teller machine (ATM), debit an account, or make a payment, etc.
(For the purposes of this disclosure, ID documents are broadly defined herein, and include, e.g., credit cards, bank cards, phone cards, passports, driver's licenses, network access cards, employee badges, debit cards, security cards, visas, immigration documentation, national ID cards, citizenship cards, social security cards, security badges, certificates, identification cards or documents, voter registration cards, police ID cards, border crossing cards, legal instruments, security clearance badges and cards, gun permits, gift certificates or cards, membership cards or badges, etc., etc. Also, the terms “document,” “card,” “badge” and “documentation” are used interchangeably throughout this patent application.).
Many types of identification cards and documents, such as driving licenses, national or government identification cards, bank cards, credit cards, controlled access cards and smart cards, carry thereon certain items of information which relate to the identity of the bearer. Examples of such information include name, address, birth date, signature and photographic image; the cards or documents may in addition carry other variant data (i.e., data specific to a particular card or document, for example an employee number) and invariant data (i.e., data common to a large number of cards, for example the name of an employer). All of the cards described above will hereinafter be generically referred to as “ID documents”.
As those skilled in the art know, ID documents such as drivers licenses can contain information such as a photographic image, a bar code (which may contain information specific to the person whose image appears in the photographic image, and/or information that is the same from ID document to ID document), variable personal information, such as an address, signature, and/or birthdate, biometric information associated with the person whose image appears in the photographic image (e.g., a fingerprint), a magnetic stripe (which, for example, can be on the a side of the ID document that is opposite the side with the photographic image), and various security features, such as a security pattern (for example, a printed pattern comprising a tightly printed pattern of finely divided printed and unprinted areas in close proximity to each other, such as a fine-line printed security pattern as is used in the printing of banknote paper, stock certificates, and the like).
An exemplary ID document can comprise a core layer (which can be pre-printed), such as a light-colored, opaque material (e.g., TESLIN (available from PPG Industries) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) material). The core is laminated with a transparent material, such as clear PVC to form a so-called “card blank”. Information, such as variable personal information (e.g., photographic information), is printed on the card blank using a method such as Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer (“D2T2”) printing (described further below and also described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,594, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.) The information can, for example, comprise an indicium or indicia, such as the invariant or nonvarying information common to a large number of identification documents, for example the name and logo of the organization issuing the documents. The information may be formed by any known process capable of forming the indicium on the specific core material used.
To protect the information that is printed, an additional layer of transparent overlaminate can be coupled to the card blank and printed information, as is known by those skilled in the art. Illustrative examples of usable materials for overlaminates include biaxially oriented polyester or other optically clear durable plastic film.
In the production of images useful in the field of identification documentation, it may be desirable to embody into a document (such as an ID card, drivers license, passport or the like) data or indicia representative of the document issuer (e.g., an official seal, or the name or mark of a company or educational institution) and data or indicia representative of the document bearer (e.g., a photographic likeness, name or address). Typically, a pattern, logo or other distinctive marking representative of the document issuer will serve as a means of verifying the authenticity, genuineness or valid issuance of the document. A photographic likeness or other data or indicia personal to the bearer will validate the right of access to certain facilities or the prior authorization to engage in commercial transactions and activities.
Identification documents, such as ID cards, having printed background security patterns, designs or logos and identification data personal to the card bearer have been known and are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,970, issued Sep. 18, 1973 to M. Annenberg; in Great Britain Pat. No. 1,472,581, issued to G. A. O. Gesellschaft Fur Automation Und Organisation mbH, published Mar. 10, 1976; in International Patent Application PCT/GB82/00150, published Nov. 25, 1982 as Publication No. WO 82/04149; in U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,775, issued Mar. 31, 1987 to T. Raphael, et al.; in U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,949, issued Apr. 19, 1988 to G. S. Sethi, et al.; and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,987, issued Nov. 16, 1993 to J. W. Luening, et al. All of the aforementioned documents are hereby incorporated by reference.
Printing Information onto ID Documents
The advent of commercial apparatus (printers) for producing dye images by thermal transfer has made relatively commonplace the production of color prints from electronic data acquired by a video camera. In general, this is accomplished by the acquisition of digital image information (electronic signals) representative of the red, green and blue content of an original, using color filters or other known means. Devices such as digital cameras, optical sensors, and scanners also can provide digital image information. The digital image information is utilized to print an image onto a data carrier. For example, information can be printed using a printer having a plurality of small heating elements (e.g., pins) for imagewise heating of each of a series of donor sheets (respectively, carrying diffuseable cyan, magenta and yellow dye). The donor sheets are brought into contact with an image-receiving element (which can, for example, be a substrate) which has a layer for receiving the dyes transferred imagewise from the donor sheets. Thermal dye transfer methods as aforesaid are known and described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,271, issued Nov. 4, 1986 to S. Brownstein and U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,989, issued Jun. 18, 1991 to Y. H. Chiang, et al. Each of these patents is hereby incorporated by reference.
Dye diffusion thermal transfer printing (“D2T2”) and thermal transfer (also referred to as mass transfer printing) are two printing techniques that have been used to print information on identification cards. For example, D2T2 has been used to print images and pictures, and thermal transfer has been used to print text, bar codes, and single color graphics.
D2T2 is a thermal imaging technology that allows for the production of photographic quality images. In D2T2 printing, one or more thermally transferable dyes (e.g., cyan, yellow, and magenta) are transferred from a donor, such as a donor dye sheet or a set of panels (or ribbons) that are coated with a dye (e.g., cyan, magenta, yellow, black, etc.) to a receiver sheet (which could, for example, be part of an ID document) by the localized application of heat or pressure, via a stylus or thermal printhead at a discrete point. When the dyes are transferred to the receiver, the dyes diffuse into the sheet (or ID card substrate), where the dyes will chemically be bound to the substrate or, if provided, to a receptor coating. Typically, printing with successive color panels across the document creates an image in or on the document's surface. D2T2 can result in a very high printing quality, especially because the energy applied to the thermal printhead can vary to vary the dye density in the image pixels formed on the receiver, to produce a continuous tone image. D2T2 can have an increased cost as compared to other methods, however, because of the special dyes needed and the cost of D2T2 ribbons. Also, the quality of D2T2-printed image may depend at least on an ability of a mechanical printer system to accurately spatially register a printing sequence, e.g., yellow, magenta, cyan, and black.
Another thermal imaging technology is thermal or mass transfer printing. With mass transfer printing, a material to be deposited on a receiver (such as carbon black (referred to by the symbol “K”)) is provided on a mass transfer donor medium. When localized heat is applied to the mass transfer donor medium, a portion (mass) of the material is physically transferred to the receiver, where it sits “on top of” the receiver. For example, mass transfer printing often is used to print text, bar codes, and monochrome images. Resin black mass transfer has been used to print grayscale pictures using a dithered gray scale, although the image can sometimes look coarser than an image produced using D2T2. However, mass transfer printing can sometimes be faster than D2T2, and faster printing can be desirable in some situations.
Printing of black (“K”) can be accomplished using either D2T2 or mass transfer. For example, black monochrome “K” mass transfer ribbons include Kr (which designates a thermal transfer ribbon) and Kd (which designates dye diffusion).
Both D2T2 and thermal ink have been combined in a single ribbon, which is the well-known YMCK (Yellow-Magenta-Cyan-Black) ribbon (the letter “K” is used to designate the color black in the printing industry). Another panel containing a protectant (“P”) or laminate (typically a clear panel) also can be added to the YMCK ribbon).
Manufacture and Printing Environments
Commercial systems for issuing ID documents are of two main types, namely so-called “central” issue (CI), and so-called “on-the-spot” or “over-the-counter” (OTC) issue.
CI type ID documents are not immediately provided to the bearer, but are later issued to the bearer from a central location. For example, in one type of CI environment, a bearer reports to a document station where data is collected, the data are forwarded to a central location where the card is produced, and the card is forwarded to the bearer, often by mail. Another illustrative example of a CI assembling process occurs in a setting where a driver passes a driving test, but then receives her license in the mail from a CI facility a short time later. Still another illustrative example of a CI assembling process occurs in a setting where a driver renews her license by mail or over the Internet, then receives a drivers license card through the mail.
In contrast, a CI assembling process is more of a bulk process facility, where many cards are produced in a centralized facility, one after another. (For example, picture a setting where a driver passes a driving test, but then receives her license in the mail from a CI facility a short time later. The CI facility may process thousands of cards in a continuous manner.).
Centrally issued identification documents can be produced from digitally stored information and generally comprise an opaque core material (also referred to as “substrate”), such as paper or plastic, sandwiched between two layers of clear plastic laminate, such as polyester, to protect the aforementioned items of information from wear, exposure to the elements and tampering. The materials used in such CI identification documents can offer the ultimate in durability. In addition, centrally issued digital identification documents generally offer a higher level of security than OTC identification documents because they offer the ability to pre-print the core of the central issue document with security features such as “micro-printing”, ultra-violet security features, security indicia and other features currently unique to centrally issued identification documents.
In addition, a CI assembling process can be more of a bulk process facility, in which many cards are produced in a centralized facility, one after another. The CI facility may, for example, process thousands of cards in a continuous manner. Because the processing occurs in bulk, CI can have an increase in efficiency as compared to some OTC processes, especially those OTC processes that run intermittently. Thus, CI processes can sometimes have a lower cost per ID document, if a large volume of ID documents are manufactured.
In contrast to CI identification documents, OTC identification documents are issued immediately to a bearer who is present at a document-issuing station. An OTC assembling process provides an ID document “on-the-spot”. (An illustrative example of an OTC assembling process is a Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) setting where a driver's license is issued to person, on the spot, after a successful exam.). In some instances, the very nature of the OTC assembling process results in small, sometimes compact, printing and card assemblers for printing the ID document. It will be appreciated that an OTC card issuing process is by its nature can be an intermittent—in comparison to a continuous—process.
OTC identification documents of the types mentioned above can take a number of forms, depending on cost and desired features. Some OTC ID documents comprise highly plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) or have a composite structure with polyester laminated to 0.5-2.0 mil (13-51 .mu.m) poly(vinyl chloride) film, which provides a suitable receiving layer for heat transferable dyes which form a photographic image, together with any variant or invariant data required for the identification of the bearer. These data are subsequently protected to varying degrees by clear, thin (0.125-0.250 mil, 3-6 .mu.m) overlay patches applied at the printhead, holographic hot stamp foils (0.125-0.250 mil 3-6 .mu.m), or a clear polyester laminate (0.5-10 mil, 13-254 .mu.m) supporting common security features. These last two types of protective foil or laminate sometimes are applied at a laminating station separate from the printhead. The choice of laminate dictates the degree of durability and security imparted to the system in protecting the image and other data.
UV Security Features in ID Documents
One response to the problem of counterfeiting ID documents has involved the integration of verification features that are difficult to copy by hand or by machine, or which are manufactured using secure and/or difficult to obtain materials. One such verification feature is the use in the card of a signature of the card's issuer or bearer. Other verification features have involved, for example, the use of watermarks, biometric information, microprinting, covert materials or media (e.g., ultraviolet (UV) inks, infrared (IR) inks, fluorescent materials, phosphorescent materials), optically varying images, fine line details, validation patterns or marking, and polarizing stripes. These verification features are integrated into an identification card in various ways and they may be visible or invisible (covert) in the finished card. If invisible, they can be detected by viewing the feature under conditions which render it visible. At least some of the verification features discussed above have been employed to help prevent and/or discourage counterfeiting.
Covert security features are those features whose presence is not visible to the user without the use of special tools (e.g., UV or IR lights, digital watermark readers) or knowledge. In many instances, a covert security feature is normally invisible to a user. Some technologies that involve invisible features require the use of specialized equipment, such as a detector or a device capable of reading digital watermarks. One type of covert security feature is the printing of information (images, designs, logos, patterns, text, etc.) in a material that is not visible under normal lighting conditions, but can be viewed using a special non-visible light source, such as an ultraviolet (UV) or infrared (IR) light source. Use of UV and/or IR security features can be advantageous because although the devices (for example, UV and/or IR light sources) required to see and use such features are commonly available at a reasonable cost, the ability to manufacture and/or copy at least some implementations of such features is far less common and can be very costly. UV and IR based covert security features thus can help deter counterfeiters because the features cannot be copied by copiers or scanners and are extremely difficult to manufacture without the requisite know-how, equipment, and materials.
For example, the assignee of the present invention has developed and marketed a proprietary product called PolaPrime-UV™. PolaPrime-UV™ is a type of security feature. One application of PolaPrime-UV™ is for full color photo quality printing of fixed (i.e., not variable data) fluorescent images. The artwork that can be printed using PolaPrime-UV™ includes many images that can be produced with a combination of red, green, and blue phosphors. Under the appropriate light (e.g., a light source capable of providing UV light), the effect seen when viewing an image printed with PolaPrime-UV™ is similar in appearance to a television screen in that the image is formed by emission of light rather than reflection as with ink on paper. To date, PolaPrime-UV™ has been a reliable authenticator for genuine identification documents.
Printing of Covert Materials Such as UV
Many images, such as color images, are formed by subtractive techniques, e.g., light is passed through absorbing dyes and the combination of dyes produce an image by sequentially subtracting cyan, magenta, and yellow components to provide the full color image. In the case of a UV fluorescing image, the UV image is formed by light emitting from fluorescing dyes or pigments as they are activated by a UV light or energy source. A UV image can be imparted to an ID document via methods such as thermal transfer or D2T2.
Regardless of whether the UV materials are imparted via D2T2 or mass transfer panel, both panels produce transmissive images—the mass transfer panel produces a bitonal (e.g., two tones) image and the dye sublimation panel produces a monochromatic (or shaded) image.
Optically Variable and Tamper Evident Features
As color photocopiers and other similar imaging systems (e.g., scanners) have increased in quality, availability, and popularity, there has been a corresponding increase in the counterfeiting of security documents such as bank notes, passports and identification cards. Thus, issuers and creators of legitimate security documents have been attempting to add security features to the documents that are difficult to obtain and/or difficult (or impossible) to photocopy or scan. Such security features can also serve to enhance the perceptions and resistance to simulation of existing features on the security documents.
For example, it is known to provide on such security documents optically variable features (which generally cannot which cannot be accurately reproduced by a photocopier or scanner because such features can be invisible to, or viewed differently, by a photocopier. Because some types of photocopying processes reflect high energy light off an original document containing the image to be copied, from a single viewing angle, a security feature may have a different appearance depending on angle at which it is viewed, or a different appearance in reflected and transmitted light.
Color shifting and other optically variable pigments, inks, dyes, and colorants (collectively “optically variable media”) have a feature of appearing to change color as the viewing angle of an observer changes (or as the angle of incident light striking the media changes). Optically variable media have been used on security documents, such as identification cards, credit cards, checks, title document, currency, etc. The optically variable property provides several advantages when used on security documents: (a) the presence and appearance of optically variable quality provides another “check” or method to authenticate the security document; (b) optically variable media are generally more difficult for a layman to obtain and use properly, thus helping to prevent (or at least limit) forgery and to make forgeries and/or alteration easier to detect; and (c) photocopiers and scanners generally will not reproduce most types of optically variable media, helping to reduce unauthorized reproduction or counterfeiting of such documents. Optically variable media also can be used with many other different types of articles, such as consumer goods (e.g., toys, cars), paper products (e.g., greeting cards, magazines), and in the fine arts (e.g., works of art).
Several methods exist to create optically variable media and to apply such media to security documents. One method involves dispersing in a medium (e.g., paint or ink) a plurality of relatively small particles (typically flakes) that have specific optical properties. One example of a particle is a particle comprising a plurality of thin film layers, each film having a particular color and/or optical property. Another example of a particle that can have an optically varying appearance is described in a commonly assigned patent application Ser. No. 09/969,200, entitled “Use of Pearlescent and Other Pigments to Create Security Documents”, by Bentley Bloomberg and Robert L. Jones, filed Oct. 2, 2001 (hereinafter “the '200 application”), (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,277), the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,277 describes a media having optically variable properties which includes, in one embodiment, particles comprising flat, irregularly shaped mica platelets coated with titanium dioxide and/or iron oxide. These particles, when dispersed in a media, can give a generally “pearlescent” effect, with smaller particles producing a “satin” effect and larger particles producing a “glitter” effect. In many instances, optically variable media are incorporated into a material such as a laminate layer or overlaminate layer, providing an optically variable indicia that overlays other information on the card. Generally, such an optically variable indicia contains “fixed” data (information that is the same from card to card).
Another method of providing optically variable materials is through the use of certain types of liquid crystals. It is known that certain liquid crystal materials exhibit a difference in color when viewed in transmission and reflection as well as an angularly dependent colored reflection. A liquid crystal is a type of molecule that, when heated above its melting point, can enter a state that exhibits characteristics of both isotropic melt and an ordered crystal. In the so-called liquid crystal state, a liquid crystal molecule can be moving like a liquid but still exhibit degrees of molecular order normally only found in solid crystals. As a result, the liquid crystal can have some physical properties which are angle dependent in the liquid crystalline state, including refractive index. This can enable the liquid crystal to have unique optical properties, including a varying appearance as the viewing angle changes, because of interference effects that cause reflection of certain spectral components of incident light and transmission of the remaining spectral components.
Liquid crystal materials have been incorporated into documents, identification cards and other security elements with a view to creating distinctive optical characteristics. U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,896 provides further information about polymeric liquid crystals, and the disclosure of this patent is hereby incorporated by reference.
It will be appreciated that the security of an identification document will be at least partially dependent upon the particular structure and properties of the layers and the ease with which a successful intrusion can be accomplished. In the case, for example, of the dye image-receiving element of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,949, there is produced a monolithic ID card, by which is meant that the background information and the photograph or other personalized information are contained in the same layer. It is indicated in the patent (col. 2, lines 63-66) that, in this way, tampering with the photograph will destroy the background information and forgeries can be prevented.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,987, reference is made to the ID cards of the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,949 and to the lamination of a transparent laminate (employing adhesive) onto the image-bearing surface. It is indicated that attempts to delaminate or peel apart the double composite laminate caused the thermally-transferred dye image to be lifted off the polycarbonate dye-receiver layer by virtue of the strong adhesion provided by the adhesive. It is further disclosed that, in the case of the lamination between polyvinyl chloride sheets of a support sheet carrying a polycarbonate surface having personalized and background information thereon, the incorporation of the support sheet into the ID card renders the card susceptible to being delaminated and altered. There is, thus, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,987 a method of increasing tamper resistance whereby personalized information is printed (by thermal dye transfer printing) onto the exposed surface of a polycarbonate receiver sheet and the polycarbonate receiving layer of the receiver element is then adhered and transferred to a cardstock material pre-printed with background information.
Technologies exist that combine both optically variable properties and tamper evident properties. One example is a type of prefabricated coating of a liquid crystalline material that is available as the ADVANTAGE product available from Advantage ID Technologies, Inc., of Lancaster, Pa., which is part of Applied Optical Technologies, plc, of Parkton, Md. and the United Kingdom. The ADVANTAGE product is an optically variable security coating that can be used to protect documents, components, products, etc., from counterfeiting, alteration, and compromise. The ADVANTAGE material is provided in the form of security laminates (heat activated) and security labels. In at least one form, the ADVANTAGE material comprises a polymeric liquid crystal layer and a tamper evident layer.
Using the ADVANTAGE product, anti-counterfeiting substances can be embedded in the card or applied as a laminate, producing an image that changes color (in a trimodal manner, from transparent to orange to green) as a card is tilted. This trimodal color change is difficult to impossible for known copiers, scanners, and desktop publishing systems to copy. The image itself can be designed to be easily seen by an unaided naked eye. If an attempt is made to tamper with a document to which the ADVANTAGE product has been applied (e.g., as a security feature), chemical coatings that are part of the ADVANTAGE product fracture into microfragments, making it difficult to tamper with the security feature without destroying the security document to which it was applied or in which it was embedded. Often, evidence of such tampering can be seen by an unaided naked eye (or a naked eye aided by the use of an ultraviolet light source, if the tamper evident layer is a UV layer). In one example, the chemical coating is made from a material capable of fluorescing under UV light, such that the fractured UV coating is visible only under UV light.
Although it is known to use optically variable media on security documents, use of such media can sometimes have limitations. For example, many optically variable media are substantially opaque, which can limit their application and use on particular types of security documents, as well as the type and/or design of indicia that are printable with such optically variable media. For example, the relative opacity of many optically variable media means that an indicium (printed with most optically variable media) that is intended to overlay other information generally has an “open” type of design (such as a design with widely spaced lines, or significant spaces between lines/dots), to permit information overlaid by the indicia to be substantially perceived.
Further, for some types of security document (e.g., drivers licenses, identification cards), the issuer wishes to provide a lot of information in a relatively small card area. In particular, it often is desirable to print information such as images of the bearer on a card. Such images typically are not “open” enough to be usable with most conventional optically variable media. Thus, applying an optically variable media that is opaque to such a card and printing an image with it means that it can be difficult to put other information in that area that was printed/overlaid using the optically variable and still have the non-optically variable information be perceivable to an unaided human eye (for authentication or other purposes).
It also would be desirable to ensure that the optically variable feature is further protected by additional covert security elements that are very difficult to obtain and to embed within the laminates of an identification document. For example, infrared media, such as inks, pigments, and dyes, are invisible unless viewed using a special light source and also can be very difficult for a counterfeiter to obtain and to properly apply into identification documents, and would be advantageous to use in a security feature application. Specific types of ultraviolet inks, which are “tuned” to fluoresce at only particular ultraviolet light wavelengths, also can be advantageous in a security feature application. They also will be difficult to view without access to and use of the particular light source. Use of such difficult to obtain media also can act as a forensic feature, because the sources for such media are limited and sales and access are often controlled, thus enabling an investigator to better identify the source of a given infrared, ultraviolet, or other covert media.
The ID document counterfeiter remains surprisingly resourceful. Improvements are needed to stay ahead of the counterfeiter. One counterfeiting technique involves a de-lamination attack. Consider an ID document that includes a printed substrate covered by a laminate layer. A de-lamination attack removes the laminate layer, sometimes with the aid of heat, to access information printed on the substrate. Once revealed, the counterfeiter can alter the printed information and reuse the substrate or laminate. It would be further desirable to be able to readily detect whether such tampering and/or a forgery has occurred with respect to an identification document and/or any indicia on it. For example, because variable indicia (e.g., a birthdate) is a frequent target of alteration and/or other types of fraud, it would be desirable if a security feature could be constructed and arranged so as to show if an alteration attempt was made on a given indicia.
Some ID documents are susceptible to this type of attack. Consider the ID document including a substrate, ink applied to the substrate (or laminate layer) to convey information and a laminate layer covering the ink and substrate. Conventional inks generally include a strong adhesion to either a document substrate or to a laminate. A counterfeiter can use this design characteristic (adhesion) to his advantage. Upon de-lamination, the ink may adhere to the substrate layer or to a laminate layer. Regardless, the printed information is typically preserved on at least one layer and may be used again. (For example, if the ink adheres to a laminate, the counterfeiter can reuse the laminate. Or if the ink adheres to the substrate, the counterfeiter can perhaps alter the information by applying additional ink, or simply reuse the remaining information on the substrate.).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,695, herein incorporated by reference, discloses an identification document designed to help deter intrusion attempts. This patent describes an image-receiving element that includes a support, a polymeric security layer including printing, and an image-receiving layer. The polymeric security layer is designed such that its cohesivity is less than its adhesivity for each layer that is contiguous thereto. A printed security pattern is hopefully destroyed through partitioning of the security layer during an attempted de-lamination of the image-receiving layer from the image-receiving element.
To provide these and other advantages, the invention described herein proposes a unique security feature that combines an optically variable feature, a forensic feature, and a tamper evident feature. One portion of the security feature is both visible and at least substantially translucent in visible light, enabling it to be applied to virtually any portion of an identification document, including being overlaid over other information on an identification document. At least one other portion of the security feature is visible only in a light that is not visible to the naked eye, such as UV or IR light. In one embodiment, the security feature comprises a first covert layer, an optically variable layer, and a second covert layer. The first covert layer comprises a patch of first material applied over a first side of the optically variable layer, where the first material comprises a first covert material that is visible to the naked eye only under at least one predetermined light wavelength. The presence of the first covert material is generally not known to the public. The optically variable layer comprises a layer of material capable of presenting a varying appearance depending on the angle from which the optically variable material is viewed. The second covert layer is disposed along a second side of the optically variable layer and comprises a second layer of a second covert material that breaks upon intrusion.
Advantageously, the security feature is overlaid at least partially over a variable indicia on the identification document. If an attempt is made to delaminate or otherwise remove the security feature, a portion of the security feature fractures, to provide tamper evidence.
In one embodiment the invention provides a security feature, comprising a first covert layer, an optically variable layer, and a second covert layer. The first covert layer comprises a first covert material that is not visible to a human eye under except under a first condition. The first covert layer further comprises a material constructed and arranged to produce, upon an attempted intrusion into any part of the security feature, a first effect, such damaging breaking, cracking, rupturing, splitting, fracturing, splintering, changing color, changing texture, shattering, and destroying, that is visible at least under the first condition. The optically variable layer has first and second sides, the first side being disposed adjacent the first covert layer. The optically varying layer is constructed and arranged to cover at least a portion of the first covert layer. The optically variable layer comprises an optically variable material, such as a polymeric liquid crystal. The second covert layer is disposed adjacent to the second side of the optically variable layer. The second covert layer comprises a second covert material, such as an infrared, an ultraviolet, and/or a thermachromic material, that is visible to the human eye only at a second condition, such as at least one of predetermined wavelength of light in the infrared range, a predetermined wavelength of light in the ultraviolet range, and a predetermined temperature. The second covert layer is constructed and arranged to cover at least a portion of the optically variable layer.
In one embodiment, the first covert layer is operably coupled to the optically variable layer and is constructed and arranged such that an attempted intrusion into the first covert layer causes damage to at least one of the first covert layer and the optically variable layer. In one embodiment, the first and second covert layers and the optically variable layer are constructed and arranged such that an attempted intrusion into the security feature causes damage to at least a portion of at least one layer of the first covert layer, second covert layer, and optically variable layer,.
In one embodiment, the ADVANTAGE material is used for at least one of the optically variable layer and the first covert layer.
In another aspect, the invention provides an identification document, comprising a core layer, a security feature, and a first laminate layer. The core layer, which can, for example, be TESLIN, has first and second sides. The security feature has first and second sides and has a first side operably coupled to a first side of the core layer. The first laminate layer operably coupled to the second side of the security feature. The security feature comprises a first covert layer, a second covert layer, and an optically variable layer. The first covert layer comprises a first covert material that is not visible to a human eye under except under a first condition, the first covert layer further comprising a material constructed and arranged to produce a first effect that is visible at least under the first condition upon an attempted intrusion into the first covert layer. The optically variable layer comprises an optically variable material and has first and second sides, the first side being disposed adjacent the first covert layer, the optically varying layer being constructed and arranged to cover at least a portion of the first covert layer. The second covert layer is disposed adjacent to the second side of the optically variable layer, the second covert layer being constructed and arranged to cover at least a portion of the optically variable layer. The second covert layer comprises a second covert material that is visible to the human eye only at a second condition.
In another embodiment, the invention provides method of making an identification document. A first laminate layer having first and second sides is provided. A first cover layer having first and second sides is disposed adjacent to the first side of the first laminate layer. The first side of an optically variable layer having first and second sides is arranged adjacent to the second side of the first covert layer. The first side of a second covert layer having first and second sides is placed adjacent to the second side of the optically variable layer. The first side of a core layer having first and second sides is aligned to the second side of the second covert layer. The first laminate layer, first covert layer, optically variable layer, second covert layer, and core layer are fixedly attached together. At least one indicium can be formed on the core layer.
In another embodiment, the invention provides a security feature, comprising a first layer of ADVANTAGE material, the first layer having first and second sides and a layer of infrared material coating at least the first side of the ADVANTAGE material.
In still another aspect, the invention provides an identification document, comprising a layer of ADVANTAGE material, the layer having first and second sides, a core layer having first and second sides, a layer of adhesive material applied to at least the first side of the layer of ADVANTAGE material and coupling at least a portion of the ADVANTAGE material to the first side of the core layer, the adhesive material comprising an infrared material, and a substantially translucent layer of laminate disposed at the second side of the ADVANTAGE layer and along at least a portion of the first side of the core layer, the laminate substantially sealing the layer of ADVANTAGE material to the core layer. In one embodiment of this aspect, the core layer further comprises an indicium formed thereon and wherein the layer of ADVANTAGE material is positioned to overlay at least a portion of the indicium.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will be even more readily apparent from the following Detailed Description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings and the claims.
Of course, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, with emphasis rather being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate like elements or steps. Further, throughout this application, certain indicia, information, identification documents, data, etc., may be shown as having a particular format, arrangement, shape, outline, cross sectional shape, etc., (e.g., rectangular, elliptical) but that is provided by way of example and illustration only and is not limiting, nor is any format, arrangement, shape, outline, cross sectional shape, etc, intended to represent any actual resultant format, arrangement, shape, outline, cross sectional shape, etc, that occurs during manufacturing of identification documents.